Solar Decathlon Photo Essay
Published October 15, 2009 @ 10:12AM PT
In honor of 2009 Blog Action Day, the topic of which is climate change, I bring you a report from the front lines of one of the year's most exciting alternative-energy events. The Solar Decathlon is in full swing on the National Mall in Washington, DC — for those in town, public viewing opens today and continues through Sunday.
Twenty teams of university students have designed and built solar-powered houses, which they have set up on the U.S. Capitol's front stoop for a hot competition. A team of judges is in the midst of deciding which team has created "the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house."
Some of these houses will be mass-produced for people to live in — a step in the right direction as we continue to shrink our carbon footprint. A winner will be announced tomorrow morning (I'll bring you the breaking news), but in the meantime, I offer a photo essay of the teams setting up their creations on a windy day in the nation's capital last week.
The houses line a central boulevard under the watchful eye of the Washington Monument.
The University of Louisiana team created a house that can withstand hurricane-force winds.
Team Alberta from Canada built a house with systems programmable by a logic controller (the tower is part of the Smithsonian Castle across the street, not the solar house, though it would be cool if it was).
The University of Kentucky team's house is surrounded by gardens of native Kentuckian plants.
The Cornell University team made a house out of grain silos surrounded by hydroponically grown gardens to recall the vanishing farmland in the school's upstate New York.
Team California took advantage of its sunny environment by lining its house's entire roof with an unbroken plane of photovoltaic panels.
Tune in tomorrow to find out the big winner. So far the standings indicate that University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Team California are neck and neck. Regardless of who wins, planet Earth comes out ahead.
Photos courtesy of Katherine Gustafson
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
StumbleUpon
EmailRelated Posts
-
Team Germany Wins 2009 Solar Decathlon
-
Why Universal Energy Access is Key to Progress on Climate
-
Momentum Growing for Climate Agreement But Ecuador Holds Amazon Ransom
Comments (2)
Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.
Author
-
Katherine Gustafson is a freelance writer and editor with a background in international nonprofit organizations. Her articles, essays, and stories have been published in numerous magazines, newspapers, books, and Websites.
PresidentObama,do not become another George W.Bush when it comes to doing something along with the other nations of theworld about climate changebefore it is too late.Al Gore has been busting his butt to help that is how he got he Nobel Prize.That dirt bad Bush,justignored the Keyoto Accord meetings when it came for these nations to come together to do something about climate change,so Obama,whyare you dragging your feet as well get on this stick and start doing something about this before it is too late for everyone on this planet.
Posted by Troy Gilmore Jr on 10/15/2009 @ 04:46PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
YES, we CAN CHANGE THE WORLD... If we so wish! Thank you all for these excellent initiatives. These actions should be encouraged by governments in all countries and be made known worldwide!
Posted by Loreto Vargas on 10/17/2009 @ 10:50AM PT
You must be signed in to report content.